Phuket News
Discover the latest news and updates from Thailand’s most famous and beautiful island, The Thaiger’s hometown, having previously operated as the Phuket Gazette.
Our team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Phuket, covering everything from local politics and business to lifestyle and tourism. Learn about the island’s stunning beaches, vibrant nightlife, and thriving expat community, as well as keeping updated on events, and attractions.
The Thaiger is your ultimate guide to staying connected with Phuket’s ever-evolving landscape. To keep up with the most reliable news source on the island, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.
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Island CCTV up and running
PHUKET: The next time you are having a night out on the town in Patong, Kata-Karon or Phuket City be sure to keep a smile on your face: you might be on TV.Pol Col Peerayuth Karachedi, Superintendent for Administrative Affairs at Phuket Provincial Police Station, told the Gazette that a closed-circuit television (CCTV) system has been fully tested and is…
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Thai sailor murdered in Phang Nga mutiny
PHANG NGA: The captain of Thai fishing boat Muang Dam 2 was seriously injured and his First Mate killed on February 9, when nine Burmese crew members mutinied during a fishing expedition about 40 miles off the coast of Phang Nga Province.A tour boat found the captain of the boat, Chalermporn Phosung, floating adrift with serious stab wounds.After the incident…
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Teenage murder suspects still at large
PHUKET: Four teenagers of the nine suspects in the murder of transsexual and glue addict Keittirat Longnawa remain at large while police try to learn all of their full names so that a single warrant for their arrest can be requested from the court.Lt Col Adul Niraphai, an Investigating Inspector at Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that he…
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Grand Tropicana declared clear of Legionnaires’ disease
PHUKET: Breaking the silence regarding the reported outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at the hotel in January, Phuket Grand Tropicana General Manager Apichart Asa announced that the hotel has been declared free from the bacteria and that all water fixtures in the hotel have been cleaned from top to bottom.Dr Wiwat Sritamanod, Civil Service Level C-9 of the Phuket Provincial Health…
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SIPA to launch online payments portal
PHUKET: The Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) will launch its “One Click Finish All: One Stop Services” initiative through the www.thaionestop.org website on Saturday.The website, for now in Thai only, will accept online payments for water, electricity and telephone bills, but users must have an account with Bank of Ayudhya.The portal initially will be able to make payments to the…
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Fire destroys shops on Phi Phi
PHI PHI DON (Nation, Kom Chad Luek, Gazette): A fire raged through beachfront shops at the eastern end of Ton Sai Bay on Koh Phi Phi Don on Sunday, causing estimated damages of more than 2 million baht. No one was hurt in the blaze.The fire began at a beer bar around 11:30 am and swiftly raged through 10 other…
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Gambling, prostitution top January arrests
PHUKET: From January 1 to 20, police arrested 208 people for gambling and 115 people for prostitution in Phuket, according to the latest crime statistics from the Phuket Provincial Police.Cases involving ya bah (methamphetamine) totaled 99, with 108 arrests made and 5,681 pills seized.Thirteen people were arrested for sniffing glue or paint thinners, 25 for possession of marijuana and three…
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Local aid raised for Southern temples
PHUKET CITY: The Seu See Khao (White Media for Peace) Club and Kanlayanamitr Club have been soliciting donations of food and money for Buddhist monks in the Deep South who are unable to collect food alms themselves due to fear of attacks by extremists.Food offerings were collected by 109 monks from Phuket who walked a path through Saphan Hin yesterday…
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Sea gypsies protest over fishing rights
PHUKET CITY: Some 100 sea gypsies from Rawai on Wednesday petitioned Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit to help settle an ongoing, violent dispute over fishing rights near resorts.The complaint follows sea gypsy Pratan Charncheow suffering decompression sickness after having his oxygen supply hose cut while diving off Nui Beach on December 31.Pratan was fishing with five other sea gypsies, including Alim…
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Mission Hills to host PM’s golf meet
PHUKET: Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi will meet Thai Prime Minister Gen Surayud Chulanont for a round of golf at Mission Hills Golf course Sunday afternoon. The PMs will fly in separately Sunday morning and fly out the following day.Phuket Vice-Governor Tri Augkaradacha confirmed both PM’s itineraries, saying that PM Badawi will stay at JW Marriott Phuket…
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Newspaper Circulation Soars
BANGKOK (The Nation): Worldwide newspaper circulation soared nearly 10 percent in the five years to 2005, according to a study released in Paris yesterday. The study’s findings sharply challenge the widespread notion that the print media is moribund.The World Association of Newspapers [WNA] said the number of paid-circulation daily papers reached a record 10,104 in 2005, an increase of 13 percent…
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OrBorJor sets sights on education
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) will spend 160 million baht of its 340-million-baht budget for fiscal 2007 on education, OrBorJor President Anchlee Vanich-Thepabutr has announced.The dedication of nearly half the OrBorJor‘s annual budget follows seven schools transferring their administration organization from the central government to the OrBorJor by signing memorandums of understanding (MOUs).Improvements in educational standards in the…
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Eight disaster-alert stations plundered
PHUKET: Thieves have stolen copper cable from lightning rods at eight of the island’s 11 emergency radio network repeater stations, forcing the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) to spend some 2.7 million baht on replacement and repairs.News of the vandalism was reported by OrBorJor Vice-President Suthin Uthaithamrong at the January 30 meeting of provincial office chiefs at the Thavorn Grand…
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Man killed by lover in drunken ‘accident’
RASSADA: Banya Wosongkram, 20, a young laborer from Khon Kaen, died after being stabbed by his lover during a drinking session at a worker’s camp near the bridge to Koh Sireh on January 31.The incident occurred while K. Banya was drinking with two friends and his lover Siam Raisanguan, 32, a married woman from Kalasin province.Lt Col Ampolwat Saengreuang, Inspector at…
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Foreign teacher crackdown to continue
PHUKET: Foreign teachers will continue to be the target of Immigration crackdowns, Thai Immigration Chief Pol Lt Gen Suwat Tumrongsiskul confirmed during his recent visit to Phuket on Monday.His agency, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education (MoE), will continue to conduct strict background checks on all foreigners applying for teaching jobs in the Kingdom.Gen Suwat said Immigration agreed with…
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Nine youths in glue-fueled stabbing frenzy
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Police have arrested five of nine youths wanted for the savage murder of Keittirat Longnawa, a 31-year-old transsexual and glue addict who was beaten and had his throat slashed in Rassada on January 31.Police are still searching for four more suspects in the case. All nine suspects, including two girls, ranged in age from 14 to…
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Men cleared of gold shop robbery
PHUKET CITY: The two suspects wanted for the January 27 robbery of the Thongroj gold shop in Dowroong Villa, on Chao Fa East Rd, have been cleared by police after they turned themselves in to proclaim their innocence.Police on January 30 released sketches of the two men as they had visited the gold shop earlier in the week.Pol Maj Sompong…
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Surayud, Badawi to play a round in Phuket
PHUKET: Prime Minister Gen Surayud Chulanont and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi are scheduled to meet in Phuket on February 11 to play a round of golf and stay one night, before heading to Bangkok the following day.The stately visit was announced by Phuket Vice-Governor Tri Augkaradacha at a meeting yesterday at Phuket Provincial Hall.Citing a draft…
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Public surveyed on B70bn Ao Phuket project
PHUKET CITY: Public opinions of the 70-billion-baht convention center and hotel project proposed to be built on reclaimed land off Saphan Hin have been surveyed, but the survey results have yet to be analyzed, Vice-Governor Worapot Ratthasima and officials from Phuket Governor’s Office were told on Friday.Researchers Dr Aree Tirasatayapitak and Kamontorn Prompitak, from the Faculty of Service Industries at…
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Call for security boost at Johnnie Walker Classic
PHUKET CITY: Ministry of Tourism and Sports Permanent Secretary Sakthip Krairiksh has called for increased security at the Johnnie Walker Golf Classic, to be played at Blue Canyon Golf Club March 1 to 4.The call was made at a meeting with representatives of major sponsor Diageo Moet Hennessy (Thailand) on February 2 and senior provincial government figures, including Phuket Vice-Governor…
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Phuket investors implicated in human trafficking bust
MAE HONG SON (The Nation): Twenty long-neck Karen women (Paduang) arrested while crossing the Thai-Burmese border on Wednesday night allegedly were to be sold to a group of Phuket investors for 10 million baht, police said on Thursday.Mae Hong Son Provincial Governor Direk Konkleeb urged officers to extend the investigation to arrest those behind the alleged human trafficking.One of the…
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Southern police reinforcements still on hold
PHUKET: Provincial Police are still waiting on reinforcements from the Deep South despite the request already having been approved by Royal Thai Police Headquarters in Bangkok, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Decha Budnampetch has told the Gazette.Gen Decha said that last year he requested 150 police officers to be sent from Police Region 9, which comprises Songkhla, Satun, Yala,…
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Phuket is “bird flu free’ – Livestock Office chief
PHUKET CITY: Phuket is 100% free of H5N1 bird flu, says the island’s top government authority on the disease.Dr Sunart Wongvorachart, who heads the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO), told the Gazette that his officers last month began an inspection and sterilization program at 17 local poultry farms, where samples were collected and sent for laboratory analysis.Thus far, all results…
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Heartthrob DJ shot through the heart
PHUKET CITY: Sombat Aremsamkok, 25, a popular DJ renowned for his good looks, died after being shot in the heart at point blank range at 4:30 am January 26.Pol Lt Sathit Noovicht of Phuket City Police Station said that K. Sombat was shot in the back at Takrai restaurant, where he worked as a DJ, in Phun Pol Night Plaza.The…
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Barami 8 squatters pull up stakes
KALIM: Squatters living on government land on Soi Phra Barami 8 have slowly begun moving out, fearing court-ordered fines and possible arrest if they continue to stay in the area.The move comes about eight months after they received the first eviction notices.Poonsak Naksena, Chief Administrative Assistant of Patong Municipality, told the Gazette that the squatters in the first three homes…
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Phuket Immigration exempt from “smile and wai’ training
PHUKET: Immigration officers at Phuket International Airport are not required to undergo the “smile and wai” training that their counterparts at Suvarnbhumi Airport have been ordered to complete, because they have been doing it for a year already, says Pol Col Surasak Atthapanyawanich, Superintendent at Phuket Airport Immigration Office.Thailand Immigration Bureau Commander Pol Lt Gen Suwat Tumrongsiskul ordered the 1,200…
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Limo driver returns B200,000 in “lost luggage’
PHUKET: Airport limousine driver Prateep Seeponnok has been commended for returning almost 200,000 baht worth of cash and goods to their Norwegian owner who had left them in his car.K. Prateep, accompanied by Phuket Vice-Governor Worapot Rattasima and Tourist Police officers, returned the forgotten luggage to Rolf Bernharn Knobloch yesterday.K. Prateep told the Gazette that, “At 10 pm on January…
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Tourist Police nab Phang Nga murder suspect
PHUKET: Tourist Police have 23-year-old Wanasart “Bank” Jeensrikong, for his role in the June 28, 2003 murder of Sarawuth Yamying in Phang Nga’s Takuatung District.Following a tip-off, Wanasart was arrested on Thursday after he was found working as a chef at a hotel in Patong. Plainclothes police arrested the suspect at the hotel, which they declined to name.Wanasart had confessed…
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Hotels get crash course in disease control
PATONG: Dr Wiwat Sitamanod of the Phuket Provincial Health Office on Wednesday said that the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is investigating claims that six tourists contracted Legionnaire’s disease while on holiday in Patong.“The PPHO received a fax from a foreign embassy on January 9 about some of their nationals who were diagnosed as having Legionnaire’s disease after being on…
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Nai Harn encroachment probe making slow progress
NAI HARN: The investigation into the building of a resort on protected forest land at Ao Sane is making slow progress, though police expect to make more arrests soon, Chalong police have told the Gazette.Some 30 forestry officials raided the illegal construction site on October 25. Two construction foremen, Virot Niyomdechai, 31, of Satun Province, and Viriya Yimsomboon, 25, of…
Phuket is a province in the south of Thailand. Phuket's beaches face the Andaman Sea allowing the west coast beaches fantastic sunsets right throughout the year. If you're looking for news in Phuket, go to thethaiger.com/phuket Or follow our instant news in our Facebook pages.
The good news is that Phuket is famous for its foodie scene with an enormously diverse range of local and international foods - Phuket and southern favorites, street food along with international choices catering for the 12 million visitors to the island each year. Thaiger follows Phuket news and information 24 hours a day with regular updates.
Phuket is only 'just' an island with a 300 metre bridge linking it to Thailand's mainland. We're always reporting in the news that the channel beneath is frequently dredged to maintain Phuket's status as an island. On the other side of Sarasin Bridge is the Province of Phang Nga.
Getting to Phuket is easy as the island has land, air and sea connections. Phuket is also used as a take-off point for local island trips as Thailand's largest island is surrounded by over 30 pristine islands. Koh Phi Phi and the famous Maya Bay are always in the news and would be the best known of the island's just off Phuket's shores.
Phuket is an island and a province. It's the largest island in Thailand – 48 km north to south, 21 km east to west.
It's about 20% smaller, in area, than Singapore but much less densely populated. Whilst the island nation of Singapore boasts a population of nearly 6 million, Phuket has a permanent population of around 400-450,000 (but varies a lot with the influx of tourists and a workforce that is always changing). Most of Phuket remains jungle and tropical rainforest despite an acceleration of development over the past 20 years.
Unlike some of Thailand's other popular islands (that are in the Gulf of Thailand), the news is that Phuket is located in the Andaman Sea.
Phuket is 878 km north of the equator.
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